


The Locket

by justareader1120



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, and this isn't angst this time!, good ol fluff for the heartstrings, hey im back!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-05-01 20:40:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14528745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justareader1120/pseuds/justareader1120
Summary: Mike isn't exactly Cassanova. Time and time again he's tried to make things official with El Hopper. But with the help of his friends, he might be able to ask out his dream girl the way she deserves.





	1. A Party Member in Need

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! Haven't written in months but fluff just makes me so happy! Hope this makes anyone else happy too!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When a Paladin is in trouble, a party must come to his aid... 
> 
> or Mike Wheeler is a huge dork.

Mike Wheeler would be the first to admit he wasn’t a “Master of Romance”.

Sure, he’d considered himself an affectionate guy when need be; a shoulder to cry on, an ear for listening, a heart open to anyone he truly considered important.

That time Dustin needed advice on what to get his mom for Mother’s Day he had the perfect idea, a sweater for Tews. _Genius!_ He figured.

Or the time Lucas was stressing out over how to ask Max to go to the arcade with him…alone. Mike had an answer: just ask. He could see the way Max looked at Lucas when he wasn’t paying attention, there was no way she would say no to spending time alone with him; she wasn’t exactly the shy type especially around him.

When Mike noticed Will staring longingly at the new boy in their Chemistry class, he took it upon himself to nudge Will in the direction of the boy. “Ask to be his lab partner,” and even when the shorter boy looked incredulously at him “What about you?”, he knew that giving Will the chance to talk to a boy he gazed at every afternoon had a chance of paying off in the end. “Don’t worry about me. Lucas said he’s planning to transfer here anyway,”

Plus, he knew what that felt like after all. It was the same reason he could never quite bring himself to look away every time El Hopper walked into a room.

How could he? Her curly hair always seemed to fall into perfect waves past her shoulders, and her shy smile always burned itself into his brain. Mike wouldn’t dare comment on how _adorable_  he found the way she dressed was, light colored baby blue and lavender floral blouses with washed jeans that always found a way to compliment her eyes, for fear of being endlessly mocked by the others.

He knew she felt the same way he did too. She had a smile and a soft voice that seemed to be special to him, and she always made sure to sit closest to him when they all hung out, even when there was ample space in the entire room. They always wanted to be near one another.

Unfortunately for Michael Wheeler, the expertise he always seemed to have never really worked on himself.

He’s been through at least three failed attempts in trying to ask El to be his girlfriend. The first attempt seemed like the perfect moment. The whole party had just finished a 12 hour campaign, and everyone was heading home. Mike offered to wait with El by the front door for Hopper to show up and take her home, and he figured it was the best shot he’d have.

“Hey El,” Mike began.

“Yeah, Mike?” She responded. It was then that Mike decided to take a _huge_  deep breath in preparation of what he was about to say. He didn’t regret anything more that night.

“I just wanted to know if-" and that was when his saliva chose to travel down his windpipe and leave him a red faced choking mess in front of his dream girl. Even though he knew she was concerned, he could hear the laughter in her voice when she asked, “Mike, are you alright?”

He couldn’t even answer, he just stood there kneeled over trying to regain his composure. He even held an index finger up at her as if to say _just give me a second_  like he hadn’t been trying to ask her a super romantic question not thirty seconds ago.

_Why am I such a moron?!_

They both heard the sound of Hopper honking his horn at the both of them signaling it was time for El’s departure. “Uh, I’ll see you tomorrow, Mike. Bye,” She gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek as per usual. He only offered her a weak nod, and proceeded to silently request that his bed swallow him up and never let him talk to another human being again.

 

The second time, it wasn’t his throat that betrayed him, but his own little sister.

“Michael, I need you to watch your sister while I go to the post office.” Karen announced while washing the last of the dishes.

“Mom, no, please. I was supposed to have El over today,” Mike pleaded in an almost childlike whine.

“Mike, you know how long the post office takes and I’m not going to pay for a sitter when you aren’t even leaving the house. Besides that, Holly loves El! You three will be fine while I’m gone,”

How was he supposed to ask El to be his girlfriend while making sure Holly doesn’t tear up the entire house? Maybe he’d be able to keep her busy coloring or something… but not for long. Ever since she turned six, Holly followed Mike around everywhere as it was. He’d be lucky to score a moment alone with El.

“Mike! Mikey!” Holly shouted. Mike and El were sitting relatively close on the couch, not unusual for them, but with the question he had in mind the room felt about 100 degrees hotter.

“Yeah, Holls?” Mike responded.

“I’m hungry,” the young girl complained. His mom was gone longer than he expected her to be, but he knew that feeding her a meal would be pointless if she would be back any second. “Mom will be home soon, so I can get you a cookie from the jar if you want,” Holly nodded eagerly. “I wanna get it myself!”

“Holly, I can get it-“

“Hey I can help her,” El smiled. Mike tried to keep his sigh internal. _She’s so sweet._

“Are you sure?” He asked. Holly spoke up before El could nod in assurance. “Yeah, Ellie can help me!”

Before he could blink, Holly was dragging a softly chuckling El to the kitchen for her snack. Mike took this opportunity to psyche himself up as much as he could for a question he really didn’t want to mess up this time.

_El, I like you so much. You’re the only girl I want to be with all the time. I’ve loved every day we’ve gotten to spend together since we’ve met and I wouldn’t want to spend them with anyone else. Will you be my girlfriend?_

“Hey,” El came from the kitchen alone, plopping back down next to Mike. “I told Holly she could put the cookie jar back on the counter by herself.”

“You trusted her to do that?”

“That’s exactly what she asked! I told her that of course I trusted her. I fall more in love with her every time I come here. Can I keep her?” El leaned into Mike.

Mike chuckled. “As much as she drives me crazy, I love that little runt too much. Plus my mom would murder me,” El always laughed with her whole face, and Mike loved having any opportunity to make her do so.

“You’re cute, Wheeler.” El smiled. “You and all those spots on your nose,”

“My freckles?” Mike scrunched his eyebrows together in wondering.

“Yeah, but I like calling them spots. They’re pretty.” El raised a hand up to Mike’s cheek and ran a finger softly across his nose.

_This is it, Wheeler._

“El… I—"

“Ellie!” Both Mike and El jumped apart, not even realizing how close they’d been.

“I need milk for the cookie,”

 

After his last try, Mike almost decided to throw in the towel.

If he couldn’t say it, he figured writing it was the next best thing. He was a decent writer he thought, if he could write up the storyline for a campaign he could definitely find a way to tell El how much she meant to him.

_Your smile lights up my entire ~~day.~~ ~~week.~~  year._

It was by far one of the most flowery things he’s ever written, but it was perfect.

_All I’ve wanted to do since the moment we met is be by your side, protect you, let you protect me._

_I ~~love~~ ~~like~~  really like everything about you. From your soft brown hair, to your soft brown eyes to your big heart._

_I’d literally do a backflip (that you know I’ve never done) if you say yes to this so here I go._

_El, will you be my girlfriend?_

It was in his signature half sloppy half neat handwriting, and it was a little smudgy from the scribbling but it was as good as he was going to get.

Mike folded the letter, and placed it in a blank envelope he had on his desk, and quickly scribbled _From: Mike To: El_ on the front. The desk was a mess, but Mike couldn’t be bothered to clean it at that moment. Suddenly, Mike heard Nancy calling for him from the kitchen.

“Mike! It’s Dustin on the phone for you!”

Jogging down the stairs, he grabbed the phone out of Nancy’s hand to answer Dustin on the other line.

“Hey dude,”

“Mike, hey, did you write that letter to the director of the Indiana A.V. Association yet? I figured if you did I could just go to the post office and mail it out for you since I’m going to there anyway. God, does that place take forever,”

Mike chuckled a bit. “Yeah, I’ve heard. Why are you even going there?”

“My mom got a package from her subscription to _CatsMonthly_  but she missed the mailman. Now yours truly has to wait forever to pick it up,” Dustin complained.

“I wrote the letter so just come pick it up and you can go drop it off,” Mike responded.

“Alrighty, Wheeler, I’ll be there in five,”

Mike went back up to his room to grab the letter he remembered he left on his desk when he was done with it and proceeded down to the basement to hand it to Dustin.

“Knockity knock. Personal mailman’s here,” Dustin quipped from outside the basement door.

Mike rolled his eyes good naturedly. “Thanks for doing this by the way you didn’t have to,”

“Don’t get all caught up in your feelings, Paladin, just runnin’ errands,” Dustin jabbed. “I’ll see you tomorrow okay?”

“Yeah see ya,” Mike called.

_Might as well go re-read my letter_

Mike went back up to his room and grabbed the letter to run his eyes over it one more time.

_Dear Mr. Wilson,_

_From the desk of the president of the Hawkins High Audio Visual Club_

_My name is Michael Wheeler and I would like to bring to attention the lack of funding for the 1985-86 school year and formally request for an increase in funding or ask if there is anything that you can do to assist us in raising the money for new equipment…_

Mike’s eyes widened in horror.

This was the wrong letter.

That means Dustin has the one for—

“Mike! Open up!” It was Dustin, repeatedly banging on the door that is. Mike didn’t even want to answer it, but he was hoping that Dustin just saw the first couple of words in the letter and stopped reading. He didn’t.

Mike opened the basement door. Dustin was standing with his bike by his side trying _so hard_ not to laugh and Mike just stared at him, too embarrassed to even say anything. After five minutes of badly stifled laughter, Dustin regained his composure.

“This,” he held up the letter, “is the cheesiest thing I’ve ever read.”

“Why did you even look inside the envelope?” Mike asked, completely drained from how badly he’s been messing up trying to ask one question.

“Excuse me for making sure you got the point across to the director. You didn’t even close the envelope dude, what did you expect?”

Mike groaned and plopped himself on the couch face down. “I’m done,” his voice was muffled by the cushion.

“What was that?” Dustin asked.

Mike lifted his head weakly. “I’m done, okay! I’m done trying to ask El to be my girlfriend. I’m obviously not meant to ask her and the universe clearly doesn’t want me to so I should just give it up,” He sunk his head back down.

Dustin looked thoughtful for a second, then snatched Mike’s Supercomm ignoring his _hey!_ and flipping to Lucas’ channel.

“Lucas come in, over.”

“Dustin? You sound clearer than usual. Are you calling from Mike’s Supercomm? Over.”

“Don’t mind that, just call up Max and Will and the three of you get to Mike’s stat, over.”

“What about, El? Over.”

“Leaving her out of this one today, over and out,”

Dustin faced back to Mike, who still looked as hopeless as ever.

“You need help, dude.”

 

“So why did you make all of us rush over here?” Lucas asked on behalf of himself, Max, and Will upon arriving to the Wheeler’s.

“It’s seems as though our dear friend, our Paladin, Michael Romeo Wheeler-“

“Not my middle name, and you know that,” Mike interrupted.

Dustin only ignored him. “— is having some lady troubles.”

“What, with El?” Will asked. “How is that even possible?”

“I can’t ask her to be my girlfriend,” Mike answered.

“Wheels, are you serious? If you gave her a pile of dirt and told her it made you think of her she’d light up like a Christmas tree. How are you having a hard time?” Max asked bewildered.

“The moment is right and then it isn’t, we’re interrupted, I say the right thing to the wrong person…”

“That would be me!” Dustin added.

Mike rolled his eyes. “It’s like the universe doesn’t even want me to ask!”

“Dude that’s ridiculous. Of course you're supposed to ask. Maybe you’re just going about it wrong,” Lucas reasoned.

“Yeah! Maybe try a romantic gesture?” Will added.

“More romantic than a love letter?” Mike asked confused.

“Well, you never actually gave it to her…” Max jabbed.

“Yeah, instead Dustin got my epic romantic declaration,” Mike face palmed.

“And while I was flattered, I agree with these guys, there has to be something else you can do,” Dustin spoke up.

“But what?” Mike asked the whole room.

“Mike, whatever you do, El will love it, but maybe we’re not the ones you should be asking about romantic gushy gestures.” Will concluded.

“Then who can help?”

As if it was rehearsed the entire party answered one name in unison.

“Nancy.”

Ask his sister for love advice?

Gross.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mike is horrified at even the THOUGHT of asking Nancy for love advice lol so we'll see how that goes! hope anyone is enjoying this so far!!


	2. Sister Dearest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Mike, woah, wait up. Did you need something else?” He turned back toward her in an almost dramatic slow motion spin. “I need, ahem, advice.”
> 
> “Advice? What kind?”
> 
> Mike scrunched up his face and clamped his eyes shut at his next words. “R-Romantic advice,”

Maybe he didn’t even need to talk to Nancy.

He could come up with a super romantic gesture on his own right? Mike sighed and put his head in his hands. He mulled over the options he already conjured up, and none of them sounded right. Not for El.

Mike had to admit that while he was a person that was good at reading other people and their feelings, he gets that from Nancy. He’d never say it to her face, but she was the only person who was ever able to make him feel better when he used to be upset when they were younger. When he was bullied, when he got hurt, when their parents fought, she always hugged him really tight and told stories about how she used to go through the same thing at school, and how she blocks out the increasing volume of their parents arguing. She made him feel like he wasn’t alone, if only for a little bit.

He walked up the stairs to her room (if not excruciatingly slowly) and proceeded to knock on her door.

Mike heard a muffled  _come in_ and turned the knob to see Nancy studying for something. He can’t even remember a time where her bed wasn’t covered in various notes and textbooks. He figured it most likely only got worse when she went to college and came back to visit with a ton of work still to do.

“Mike if you wanted to ‘borrow’ more quarters from me your tab is running up a little high so I’d be careful with that this time,”

As much as he wanted to roll his eyes, he couldn’t deny that while he started  _asking_ forquarters instead of stealing, he didn’t really like giving her that to hold over his head.  _I really need a job._

She wasn’t looking up from her notebook, so she couldn’t see his obvious internal struggle. Nancy noticed he was taking a little long to tell her what he actually wanted so she looked up and saw his back turned toward her ready to walk back out. “Mike, woah, wait up. Did you need something else?” He turned back to her in an almost dramatic slow motion spin. “I need, ahem, advice.”

“Advice? What kind?”

Mike scrunched up his face and clamped his eyes shut at his next words. “R-Romantic advice,”

Nancy’s eyes lit up for a moment. He was coming to her for advice on love? She never really thought he’d ever need it. She saw the way El looked at him every time she came over, and the way she talked about him whenever the two girls spent time together always gave her away as soon as she opened her mouth. She was a goner for the boy.

So why did he need help?

“Why? Is there something wrong with you guys?” She asked. The both of them already knew who Mike was talking about anyway, Nancy didn’t need to ask who.

“Well… yes and no,” Mike left his sentence hanging. Nancy scoffed. “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what the actual problem is, just a heads up,” she jabbed.

“I’m having a hard time asking her to be my girlfriend.”

“Ah, I see. And how’s that going?”

“I tried… writing her a really sappy letter… and I accidentally gave it to Dustin, so you tell me,” Mike sighed.

“Say no more. Here come sit, I think maybe I can help you out a little bit.”

Mike sat down next to Nancy on her bed ready for the helpful pointers the party seemed so confident she would have.

“How long have you guys known each other?”

“About two years, we met the night after Will went missing; November 7th.”

“Mmhm, and what have you learned about her so far?” Mike was confused, he didn’t really see what this had to do with his problem, she was asking questions like she didn’t know El herself. “Nancy what does this have to do with anything?”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m trying to help you here, just answer the question,”

“ _Fine_. Uh… well she’s really brave I guess. Yeah, really brave and she never wants to admit it because she feels so badly about so much she’s been through but she’s… brave yeah.”

“What else?” Nancy continued to prod, but he didn’t care. Even though it caused an enourmous blush to spread across his face every time, he loved talking about El.

“She’s really silly,” Mike laughed, “She doesn’t like singing super loud or dancing around too much, but when she’s really happy she dances all around to new songs on the radio like… like no one’s watching. She even uses her powers to turn up the stereo when it’s her favorite song and she just lets go. And she doesn’t care.” He didn’t need Nancy to ask what else to keep going, he was on a roll.

“A-And she’s really proud. Yeah, she’ll see this dress in the window when we walk downtown or this really nice looking jewelry and she stares at it a little too long and I  _know_ she’d just love something like that. But when I ask about it… she says she doesn’t need anything, and I wish she would put herself first sometimes. The last time we were there she just grabbed my hand and smiled up at me and said ‘I’m good’ and that’s when I knew that I—“ Mike paused, he didn’t want to reveal too much at once. The truth was that the ‘L’ word had been on the tip of his tongue for a while. Whenever she would laugh at a stupid pun or intertwine her soft fingers with his admittedly clammy ones or even just look at him, he had to resist the urge to blurt it out right then and there. Despite needing Nancy’s help, he had no interest in spilling  _all_  of his feelings for El. If he was sure he felt that way, he wanted El to be the first to hear it.

“J-Just that I wanted to do this.”

Nancy smiled knowingly. Despite their constant bickering, she loved her brother, and seeing him so happy talking about El was pretty infectious. “Sounds like someone who would appreciate a special gesture,”

“That’s what everyone else said! But I don’t even know where to start there. I don’t want to make a big show and have her think I’m a huge moron,”

“It doesn’t have to be this big proposal with fireworks and skywriting, Mike.” He could feel his ears heat up at even the thought. “It just has to be special to her. And you might wanna start with that memory you love so much.”

“Of us being downtown?”

“Exactly. Do you remember what jewelry she was looking at?”

“Yeah, she was looking at this locket they had on display. Her eyes were glued to the thing,” Mike chuckled. “You think I should get it for her? Are you nuts?! I still have to come to you for quarters for the arcade, I can’t afford a fancy locket like that!”

“Slow down Mike, I didn’t even say anything yet. I know you can’t afford it and while I want to, I can’t run your tab up that high, you’d be stressing about paying me back until you’re 20,” Nancy paused, and Mike watched as the cranks were turning in her head. “But… I think I know where you can get one equally as meaningful,”

Mike was confused for what he felt like was the millionth time while talking to his sister. “What? Where?”

“Well… you know that I go over to the Hoppers sometimes to hang out with El and Max and have quality time with those two while I can.”

“Yeah, yeah, but what’s the point here?” Mike was impatient. “I’m getting to it, relax,” Nancy chided.

“While I was looking for nail polish for the both of them, I accidentally knocked over an old jewelry box, and Hopper helped me pick it up. He had this  _beautiful_ locket in there and I asked about it, it was too pretty not to.”

“What’d he say?”

“That it was his grandmother’s I think,” She paced around the perimeter of her room trying to remember his words to her.

_“Yeah she gave it to me about a decade and a half back. She said to save it for that ‘special someone’ but I was never as liberated as to take her love tips so I just saved it… didn’t really know what else to do with it.” Hopper recalled. As if on cue both Nancy and Hopper looked over at El giggling uncontrollably with Max on the couch._

_Nancy picked up the last of the fallen earrings and chains. “I think she’d love it,”_

_“Me too. But I’ll keep saving it, for the right moment,” Hopper smiled. They both stood up. “Oh and next time, try not to knock everything over, Wheeler.”_

_Nancy rolled her eyes half heartedly and proceeded to join both girls on the couch._

“This is your moment, Mike,”

“You think he’d say yes to letting me give it to her?” Mike’s relationship with the Chief had most definitely improved since 1984, and Hopper was more of a father figure to him than his own had ever been. But he didn’t want to take a moment away from him if he had intention to give the locket to El himself.

“You never know if you don’t ask,” Nancy answered.

Mike sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. I’ll ask,”

“I can spend time with El, keep her busy while you ask to keep what I assume is a surprise a secret,” Nancy offered.

Mike chuckled. “Thanks, Nance.” He stood up and prepared to walk back down to the basement and rehearse what and how he was going to ask when Nancy stopped him. “Mike, wait,”

“What?” And suddenly he was a little kid again, encased in a super tight, super comforting hug from his sister; the kind of hug only she could give. “I’m rooting for you,” she said softly.

Mike figured he’d better hug her back so she’d let him go at some point, she was starting to suffocate him. Nonetheless he smiled genuinely and responded, “Yeah, I know.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope this one was enjoyed! Next person on Mike's list is Hopper! I personally love the potential Mike and Hopper's relationship has, so getting to write that will be awesome. 
> 
> im @lets-engage on tumblr if anyone wants to see any more of my obsession with mileven and ST in general and ill see you soon!


	3. Old-School Methods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike works up the nerve to talk to Hopper, with a few misunderstandings along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this literally took me forever and I still don't know why

Mike wasn’t even back down to the basement for a full second before beginning to pace back and forth like a lunatic.

_How do I even ask something like this?_

It wasn’t like he was asking to borrow five dollars or something. It was a super old family heirloom, it must have meant a lot to Hopper to be able to give that to her one day. It didn’t take a genius to know that El meant the world to Hopper, and Mike didn’t want to get in the way of any moment he wanted to share with her.

“Mike! Mike, hey I’ve been looking for you,” Nancy stated once she got down the stairs. “I called Hopper and asked if it was okay for El to come over so time for you to hit the road, she’s on her way.” Nancy was practically shoving Mike out the basement door.

“Wait, wait Nancy. Are you sure I should do this? You made it sound like Hopper really wanted to give El the locket and I really don’t want to mess that up if that is true because—”

“What are you still freaking out about? I thought we cleared this up upstairs,”

“I just don’t want to screw up something that was supposed to be special.” Mike sighed.

“It will be special, Mike.  _You_ will make it special. I know it. The worst he could say is no. Now get out of here already so you can quit your bitching.” Nancy put her hands on his shoulders and continued to shove him out.

“Gee thanks,” Mike said sarcastically. Nancy widened her eyes in a way that reminded him of their mom. “Alright, alright I’m going,”

As Mike hopped on his bike and rode down Maple, he had to continuously reassure himself that he had nothing to be nervous about. Despite the fact that he and his daughter weren’t even officially dating, Mike and Hopper had a good relationship. He always paid attention to what Mike had to say, listened to him when he felt like he needed to vent about his parents, with a steady hand and understanding expression. What meant the most to him though, was the fact that he trusted him to look after himself and El doing whatever and going wherever the party deemed an adventure. It meant so much more than Hopper probably knew.

Mike managed to skid along the road a few times like he did when he was nervous or excited. He figured he was probably both.

It was at the moment he was reeling from his third skid that he spotted a tree, his and El’s tree. The memory made his heart rate sped up and his mouth curl up into an involuntary smile.

_“So, what is it about this tree you like so much?”_

_El rested her clasped hands comfortably on her lap, fiddling with her fingers a bit. “I don’t know, it’s a really good place to just c-con..template. Plus my dad won’t bug me while I’m reading if I’m out here.”_

_Mike scratched his increasingly irritated arm. “Well, if you ask me the ant population is a little high.”_

_The girl just rolled her eyes half heartedly. “Maybe the ants just don’t like you, Mike, ever thought of that?”_

_Mike chuckled, resting one hand on her clasped ones. “Ants or not, I’m happy to be here,”_

_“You are?”_

_“I’m always happy to be with you,” It came out as a whisper. “B-besides, I’ve wanted to show you something cool anyways.”_

_El’s face was still slightly pink, but her curiosity was peaked, her eyebrows raised. “What is it?”_

_Mike turned toward the bark they’d been both leaning on, seeming to inspect it. He’d seen this move in a ton of romantic movies Nancy’s watched, and while it was pretty cheesy he still wanted to show her. “Do you have a pen?”_

_El rummaged through her bag to find the lavender pen she kept by her journal, and handed it to Mike. What she wasn’t expecting was for him to start to carve the tree with it however. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “Are you writing… on the tree?”_

_Mike only laughed, crinkling his nose in focus. “Yeah, but I am… done. Here, look.” He smiled and moved away a bit so El could see closer._

_“EH+MW.” A slow smile was spreading across her face. “Us?” she asked a bit breathlessly. Mike was almost blinded by the glow in her eyes. “Y-yeah. Most people put like a heart over it but I didn’t want to because I’m not a good artist like Will and I didn’t know if you’d want to and I didn’t want to freak you out or—”_

_El put a hand on his shoulder to slow him down, at least to stop him from rambling. “Mike, I think a heart would look really pretty. Can I…?”_

_“Sure!” Mike was relieved. It was nice seeing their intials carved permanently into a tree, instead of all over the back of his science notebook where Dustin and Lucas may or may not have found it and teased him for the rest of the week._

_El proceeded to focus solely on her heart, her eyes narrowed and the tip of her tongue slightly protruded. Mike was staring at her so intently he almost forgot what she was doing._

_“Done,” El smiled and ran a finger over the rough bark of her finished work._

_It was a way better and neater heart than he could have even attempted. The few crooked angles and curves had to have been what Mike loved best about it. It made their intials look—_

_“Perfect. It’s perfect now,” El beamed up at Mike while tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear that always seemed to get away. Mike had to stop himself from getting lost in her eyes again. He grinned._

_“Took the words right out of my mouth.”_

Mike narrowly missed a telephone pole being so distracted by the memory.

When he arrived at the Hopper’s front door, he hesitated. He had to remind himself of what the look on El’s face would be, her smile, how much it would make his heart swell. Lodged with this thought in his mind he started knocking on the Hopper’s door rapidly. He heard a muffled  _‘Alright, alright Jesus_ ,’ and instantly regretted the last two minutes.

Hopper swung the door open, a slightly perplexed look on his face. “Mike, surprised to see you here. El just left if you were looking for ‘er.”

Mike stepped in and wrung his hands together, he was already clamming up. “Uh, no, yeah I know, I uh, came to see you,” Hopper raised his eyebrows, taking a seat at the dining table. “Oh? And why might that be, kid?”

Hopper rolled his eyes slightly when Mike started to pace the room, he hated when people paced. “W-well first I just wanted to say how much I care about El, and you know I always want to make her happy and that I would never hurt her, hurting her would literally hurt me and y-you would also hurt me but that’s not the point,”

Hopper sighed. “Mike, stop beating around the bush and sit,” he pointed toward the chair in front of him as Mike sat down quickly. “Whatever it is it can’t be that bad,”

“I want to be able to show El what she means to me. And I-I think a gesture would be a way to do that,”

“A gesture?” Hopper sat foward in his chair. “What kind of gesture?”

“Like giving her something that she’d love like uh—”

“Like jewelry?” Hopper interrupted quickly. “Are you planning to give El something like this?”

Mike sat up in his chair, relieved he didn’t have to explain himself as much as he expected. “Yeah! Uh, yeah if that’s alright with you,”

Hopper sighed, eyes softening. “Mike, I-I’ve seen how much you care about El, trust me I have. And I know firsthand how much you do, but you really want to think about what you’re doing before you ask someone something like this,”

Mike shifted in his seat. “Really?” Was giving her a locket to ask her to be his girlfriend coming off too strong? He didn’t think it was that big of a deal, but if Hopper thought it was such a risky idea, he thought maybe this wasn’t the right way to go about it. “Are you sure?”

Hopper pushed his eyebrows together. “Am I sure? Yes I’m sure! Mike, you and El are way too young to be engaged let alone married!”

_What?!_

Mike blanched, quickly shooting up from his seat. “What?! Married?! N-no, no, I just wanted to ask if I could give her your locket!” His heart beat was so violent he could feel it in his ears.

Hopper exhaled heavily. “Oh, thank lord,” he said, more to himself than to Mike. The boy on the other hand was still in shock, red faced and tripping over what little words were coming out of his mouth.

“Relax kid, it’s not like that day has to come for another decade or so,”

“I- I didn’t- I wasn’t going to—”

Hopper only interrupted his stuttering. “So you wanna give her my locket huh? How’d you know about that?” He tilts his head back toward the chair, and Mike sits back down, explaining the story Nancy told him about the locket. He was also forced to explain why he couldn’t afford one from a store in the first place, and hoped that the Chief didn’t think he was too pathetic in that regard. “I wanna give her the locket to ask her to be my girlfriend.” He noticed how Hopper’s eyes shifted quickly, but decided to ignore it.

“Kid, you know you don’t need some fancy locket to ask El out right? I think we both know she’d say yes anyway. I live with the girl for God sakes she’s gone on for hours about you before,”

Mike looked up from fiddling with the sleeve of his sweater and blushed, but held his resolve. “I know. But I just want her to have something she can keep forever. And I know you wanted to give it to her, but if you’d let me, I’d really like to be the one Hop.”

“Okay Wheeler, you got me. You can give it to her. Let me go get it for you,” He stood up and headed towards the other end of the living room and opened a box.

_Yes!_ Mike internally cheered as Hopper walked toward him to gently drop the locket into his palm. Adorned by a silver chain, the charm attached was round shaped with delicate roses engraved around the main design: a butterfly right in the center.  _Woah, this is pretty. Perfect for El._

“Thank you, Hopper it’s—”

Hopper chuckled lightly. “Yeah it is. Now get out of here. You’ve got someone to talk to,”

Mike smiled and walked toward the door, feeling ten times lighter than he did when he walked in.

“Oh, uh and Mike?”

The boy didn’t even need to hear the end of his sentence. “I know, I know. Don’t screw it up.”

Hopper smiled and walked closer to the door. “Go,” and Mike was gone, walking his bike back onto the road. That kid knew him too well.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like always I hope this one was enjoyed. The next chapter will be the last stop on this ride so I'm super excited to write the ending. If anyone has any thoughts or guesses on what will happen feel free to tell me about it! Hint: if you love but also don't love schmoopy cliche endings I think you'll like the next installment. Until we meet again!


	4. Now or Never

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When a freckled boy is acting secretive, a certain telekinetic takes matters into her own hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took quite literally forever... I have no excuses... but here it is finally!

Mike had been so… _secretive_ the past few weeks.

El wasn’t at all used to Mike keeping anything from her. As much as he tried to keep up a mysterious persona sometimes, to her Michael Wheeler was as clear as they come. She could always guess what gift he got her for Christmas or her birthday, always knew when he was bluffing when the party played poker for fun, which was something they were all not shocked to hear Max knew how to play and was willing to teach them. She even knew whenever he was going to come behind her and try to scare her, always getting the advantage and turning around to scream in his face first. Every time she could tell by his face how embarrassed he was from how much she actually managed to make him jump.

_“How do you keep doing that?!”_   He always pouted.

_“Gonna have to try a little harder than that, Mike.”_   She’d respond, a sly smile on her face.

But something was different about the way he’d been acting lately. His hellos were vague, and his goodbyes were rushed, as if he didn’t even want to be talking to her. Her heart was starting to sink a bit out of insecurity day after day, but El held her head up. She knew Mike better than anyone. If something was really wrong he’d tell her.

And she was truly hoping nothing was wrong. If there was, she wouldn’t be able to ask him what she’s been wanting to ask him since… well since she learned what the term was.

_She’d been sick for the past two days and was surviving on half toasted eggos and All My Children reruns. All throughout the marathon the show had been focusing on the relationship between Jenny and Greg, and soon enough El was unable to take her eyes off of the screen whenever the two were together._

_“Still watching this garbage, huh?” She felt someone weighing down the other side of the sofa and looked over to her father holding a mug of coffee. Even sniffling, raspy voiced, and swaddled in the thickest comforter Joyce could knit her, she had to roll her eyes. “You… you like this too,” She coughed into her tissue and heard her Dad’s infamous scoff. “You watch so much of it I kinda have to like it don’t I, Ellie?” Hopper smirked and turned his eyes back toward the screen. “I don’t know what you see in this Jenny and Greg anyway. She’s way too good for him to be her boyfriend. Not– not that I would know of course, just, uh yeah.” El was about to laugh about Jim’s total transparency, but one word caught her ear. “Boyfriend?”_

_Hopper turned toward her. “Yeah, her boyfriend. Like the person she’s always around, the person she holds hands with, goes on dates with, whatnot.”_

_El’s eyes widened slightly. So that’s what that word meant. She knew she’d heard it before but hadn’t really thought about it’s meaning until seeing the bond between Jenny and Greg. All of those things sounded too familiar for El to ignore. She and Mike held hands all of the time, spent ample amount of time together without the rest of the party, and she never departed without giving him a goodbye kiss on the cheek. Did that make him her boyfriend?_

_“Hey, you alright?” Hopper broke her out of her stream of consciousness. “Do you think Mike is my…?” He raised his eyebrows at her obvious inner turmoil. “Your boyfriend? I mean, you do spend enough time with Heart Eyes it wouldn’t be crazy to assume he was. But, uh, I don’t know maybe you should ask him to be.” El felt unsure, she loved spending time with Mike as it was. Did what they have even need a name? Would he even want it to have one?_

_“What if he says…no?” Hopper sighed and stood up to wash out his mug. “I have faith in you, El. If you have the same faith that he is in fact your person, you’ve got nothing to worry about.” The girl smiled slightly and rested her head back onto the arm of the sofa. A loud ringing jolted her. Hopper removed the phone off of the hook and spoke into it shortly before smirking at her again. “Speak of the devil. It’s one Mr. Heart Eyes for you.”_

El couldn’t even believe she’d let a month pass since her epiphany.

The question was on her mind every minute she spent with him since then, but the moment was never how she wanted it to be. El knew that she and Mike weren’t Jenny and Greg. There wasn’t going to be a sudden perfect made for TV moment for the two of them, but the way she felt about the moppy haired boy would put any soap opera script to absolute shame, she knew that for sure.

She knew it every time she dozed off and pictured brown eyes above cheeks dusted with freckles. Every time she heard one of his hearty genuine laughs that made her smile even if she didn’t know what the joke was. Every time she rested her head on his shoulder and he rested his head on hers, she could always feel his smile in her hair. Every time she thought about how far they’ve both come, and every time she thought about the future, Mike was there, right next to her.

Mike Wheeler was her person, and she needed him to know.

 

Although El loved _All My Children,_ she had to admit that the reruns became pretty boring when the same three episodes aired every afternoon. She sat crossed legged on the couch mouthing the words along with the characters when she heard the phone ring. Despite usually being the one to answer the phone, Hopper always felt the need to yell “I got it!” especially loud, and El knew him well enough to know it was just to annoy her.

“Hello…. uh huh… oh?…. uh, yeah that should be fine… alright I’ll be here… okay alright,” El’s eyes were still fixed on the television when Hopper called her name. “Hey, kid, Nancy said she wants to see you.” The girl’s eyes brightened as she sat up straighter against the couch. “She does?” Some of El’s favorite memories were the ones spent with the older Wheeler sister. She felt like she could tell Nancy anything, and besides Max she was one of El’s confidants and top givers of life tips. El wasn’t even aware Nancy was back in town, and the thought of being able to talk to her in person again brightened her drowsy day.

“Mmhm. So do you want a ride over there?” Hopper nodded toward his car keys while sipping his mug. The girl shook her head, left hand slipping the scrunchie on her wrist off and right hand lifting up to tie her hair into a pony tail. “No, that’s okay, I’ll just take my bike,” El slipped her sneakers on, gave Hopper a quick hug goodbye and slipped out the door, promising to be back before it got too dark.

 

“Would you rather have the white or the lavender?” Nancy held up two options for nail polish colors and waited for a reply from the younger girl. El thought about it for a second before responding. “I’ll do lavender, I feel like my nails are always white,” Nancy laughed and shifted over to the the couch next to El. “It’s a good color on you, but sure lavender it is.”

“Hand,” Nancy motioned toward El’s right hand and begun to paint her fingers delicately with the lavender. “I’m glad I get to see you before I leave again on Sunday, I’ve missed you guys.”

El chuckled softly careful not to move her hand too much and mess up Nancy’s work. “We’ve missed you too. Mike keeps complaining about how much he has to do around the house now that you’re gone, but I just think he misses you a lot.”

Nancy rolled her eyes halfheartedly. “He’s a total pain but I miss having someone to argue with. How are you guys anyway?”

El tried to repress the sigh at the reminder of how odd Mike had been acting lately. “We’re okay, as okay as we’ve always been. But…” Nancy grabbed El’s other hand gently and started on that one. “But what?”

“Has he been acting… a little different to you?”

“No, not really. He’s just as much Mike as he was the last time I was here,” The older Wheeler shifted more comfortably on the couch and scrunched her eyebrows together. El’s eyes were focused on the grandfather clock on the wall, thoughts stringing together loosely. “I just feel like… I don’t know like he’s hiding something from me. It just doesn’t make sense, Mike doesn’t hide anything from me.”

Nancy’s eyes widened slightly for a moment but her face contorted back to nonchalant within seconds. She finished her last pinky finger and leaned over to grab another bottle to apply a final clear coat. “I’m sure it’s nothing El. Even if it was something that was bothering him, like you said, he’d tell you. He’s probably just a little tired or—”

“I want to ask him to be my boyfriend.”

Nancy abruptly paused midway through El’s left ring finger. _“What?”_

El looked down at her fingers sheepishly. “Yeah. I-I don’t know if he wants to but, I hope he does because he’s… he’s my favorite.”

Nancy couldn’t help but let out a sigh. “Oh, El. I would so hug you if your nails weren’t wet right now.” Both girls chuckled as El rested her hands in her lap. “But don’t worry this brand dries within the next like 15 minutes.”

“Do you think it’s a good idea?” Despite knowing exactly why she wanted to ask, the thought of actually getting the words out still terrified her. “Of course I do. That boy would pull down the moon for you if he could. Just stay confident and calm and I think you guys will be okay.” Nancy smiled sincerely and grabbed El’s hands again. “See? Dry. Oh, and by the way there was someone else who was just as excited as I was about seeing you today,”

“Oh? Who?” Just as she asked El heard rapid footfalls down the carpeted stairs and was met with a flash of blonde hair. “Ellie!” El immediately grinned and picked the girl up to sit her in her lap. “Hi Holly! How’s my silly been?” The small girl giggled when she felt a small tickle on her stomach. “Good. I’m happy you’re finally gonna be with Mikey,” Nancy’s eyes widened as if going to reprimand her younger sister for eavesdropping, but El just smiled and kissed Holly on her head. “Yeah, I am too.”

 

El typically hated the rain. It reminded her too much of her initial escape from the lab, the escape that turned her entire world on its head. It reminded her of what she lost, a friend, even if she only had him for a little while.

But with the rain also came kind eyes and a boy with a wet mop of hair asking if she needed help. Him holding her hand and looking concerned and keeping her safe. A boy who always kept her safe, and if she didn’t tell him how she felt now, the moment may never come again.

“I have to go,” She stood up and began to put on her teal rain boots that were in the corner of the living room.

“What? What do you mean? Go where?” Hopper looked up from his newspaper surprised to say the least.

“I-I have to go to Mike, I have to tell him. Right now,”

“Uh, kid, it’s raining cats and dogs, don’t you think you could tell him… I don’t know… literally any other time?” The look in Hopper’s eyes were one of scolding, but subtle understanding lied beneath them.

“I have my boots on see?” Hopper looked swiftly down to her rain boots and looked back up at her pleading puppy dog eyes. “Okay,” he sighed. “But just take your-”

“Thanks Dad!” El yelled and rushed out the door before he got the chance to finish his sentence. “-your raincoat!”

He pinched the skin between his eyes. _I am gonna have so many grey hairs._

 

Her legs were moving as fast as they could against the pounding rain, the mud on the ground squishing beneath her feet with every step. Her clothes were beginning to weigh her down, and her hair was darkening in color as the heavy water droplets splashed upon it.

El’s determination never waived. Mike was worth walking into a monsoon for, a bit of rain wasn’t gonna stop her from telling him what he needed to hear. Even if it was blurring her vision.

She was about a half mile down the road when something crashed into her full speed, knocking the wind out of her and sending her to the ground with only her arms to break her fall. Her head was throbbing and her vision was still blurry, but she saw that it was someone, not something that had crashed into her, and was heading toward her to help her up.

“Oh my god, El are you okay?” _Mike?_

“Mike! W-what are you doing here?” He helped her onto her feet and held her shoulders to steady her for a second before dropping his arms to his sides. “What am I doing here? What are you doing? Why are you outside in the rain? You could get sick,”

El’s eyes softened at Mike’s concern. “I’ve spent hours in the rain and about a month in the wilderness in the winter with nothing but a pink dress and a flannel. I think I can stand a little rain, Mike.” She chuckled at the slight upturn of his lips he always did when he was bashful. “Doesn’t hurt to be worried. But seriously why were you out here, El?”

The girl closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Confident and calm. “I was going to see you,” Mike’s eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. “You were? Well why were you in such a rush? You don’t even have a jacket on,” he chuckled and grabbed her hand, caressing it softly. “You could have just called.”

El sighed, squeezing his hand a bit as she spoke. “Mike, you know how much I care about you. You’ve been there for me so much these past few years and you’re such a big part of who I am now. Now I-I know we’re friends and I love being your friend it’s one of the things I love most in the world and I wouldn’t ever want us to not be friends because I don’t even know how I would live with that and—”

“El!” Mike laughed and used his hand to move some of the wet hair covering her eyes away from her face. The rain was still pouring and she could barely hear her heart beat in her ears anymore. It never quieted around him. “I thought I was the one who rambled like that not you,” He grins and she knows. She’s always known.

“Mike, will you be my boyfriend?” Silence hung in the air and El could see Mike’s face contorting into a ton of different emotions. She was hoping at least one of those emotions was a good one.

“Y-you want me to be your- your boyfriend?” El’s never felt more nervous than at this moment, and it is at this moment the freckled boy in front of her did the last thing she expected him to do.

He started to laugh.

Soaked clothes weighing her down and acidic rain water burning her eyes she felt her heart sink all the way down to her toes. This was such a stupid idea! Of course he didn’t want to be with her like that. She would be surprised if he didn’t want to be with her at all and—

El yelped as she felt gangly arms lift her up and twirl her around, still laughing. “Mike! Mike, what are you doing?! Put me down! Mike!” The girl couldn’t help it, as mad at him as she was she loved his laugh, and hearing it always spread his laughter to her face as well.

She felt her feet touch the ground again, and Mike’s face was inches away from her own, swiping away the stubborn stand of wet hair from her face again. “El, I wanna be your boyfriend more than anything else in the world.”

The first half of the question “really?” escaped her lips as Mike closed the gap between them and the world faded away. She grasped at the damp hair at the nape of his neck as she felt his arms loop tighter around her waist. His hands raised up to her face, carefully caressing it and her own moved from his neck to his cheeks, the feel of his soft skin causing her to smile onto his lips. Kissing Mike felt familiar, it felt like stars aligning, like a sunset after warm day. It felt like coming home.

Being with Mike like this wasn’t ever something she wanted to be without again.

She felt the boy rest his forehead on her own, a content sigh escaping her. “If you want to be with me, why did you start laughing?” Mike smiled before bumping his nose onto hers gently and reaching for something in his pocket. He pulled out a necklace, the most beautiful El’d ever seen, and held it out to her. Tears started to well up in her eyes. “A..?”

“Locket, yeah. I was gonna give it to you to ask you to be my girlfriend. I’ve been wanting to ask you for a while actually. Guess we had the same idea,” Mike chuckled softly before dropping the locket into her hands. El sighed breathlessly. “Mike,” she raised her arms to hug him, never wanting to let go. “It’s beautiful,” Mike smiled and shrugged slightly. “I had a little help,” El cocked her head to the side. “Help? From who?”

“Well, Nancy was the one who gave me the idea, and Hopper gave me the locket,” El’s eyes widened slightly, that explained all the funny looks she got from the older Wheeler sister the other day. But hearing that Hopper helped Mike with this made her heart swell. “My dad gave you this?” A tear started to run down her cheek as Mike swiped it away, still smiling down at her. “He really loves you,” El grinned and looked up at the boy, looking like he was about to start tripping over his words again. “And I-I’m really lucky to have you in my life. You’re incredible El,”

She pulled him down by the collar of his shirt centimeters away from her face before she spoke. “You’re a dork, Wheeler.” She heard him laugh before his lips connected with hers again.

 

At this point, the _All My Children_ reruns were getting really annoying.

El hopelessly tried to clear her nostrils to no avail, loudly blowing into her tissue for what felt like the millionth time. Hopper sat at the dinner table a slightly smug look on his face. “I tried to warn ya. ‘It’s raining El, take your rain coat, El!’ but no you didn’t listen to me,” The girl only glared when Hopper felt his tie dip into his coffee mug when he hadn’t even moved. He looked over to El who was now giving him a smug smile that matched his own. “Don’t be mad you’re stuck watching that trashy show all day, kid.”

Her voice was hoarse, but she still tried to yell nonetheless. “You… _achoo!_ you like this too!”

“You have no proof of that,” The man stood up to go change his tie into a spare. “By the way, some of your friends are coming over to keep you company, including your boyfriend, so y’know… don’t make a mess in here,” El rolled her eyes and smiled slightly. “We’re not ten Dad we’ll be fine,”

“Well I want you to feel better as soon as possible so no more running out into the rain, okay kid?” Hopper kissed her forehead before running out the door. “Love you!”

El yelled as loud as she could. “L-love you too!” She felt the locket press against her chest as she pulled it out from under her shirt. She opened it to a school picture of Mike she begged him to put in it for her. It was one of her favorites of him. She ran her thumb softly over the material before closing it and dropping it back to her chest, resting her head on the arm of the couch. A pounding on the door interrupted her drowsiness. She heard a muffled yell from Dustin. “El! If you’re not dead open up!” The girl laughed when she heard a quieter “Of course she’s not dead you moron,” from Max.

The girl stood up slowly to open the door, greeting Dustin, Mike and Max inside. The former two plopped themselves down on the couch as Mike smiled at her warmly before moving for a kiss. El dodged it before he could get too close.

“Mike, you’ll get sick too,” The boy smiled before grabbing her hands. “It’s worth it,”

_Yeah._ She thought before leaning in. _So worth it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanna shout out anyone and everyone that stuck with me through the painful process of churning out chapter by chapter of this and being here with me for it. Here we are at the end but this isn't goodbye! Trust me when I say I have a ton of cool ideas and you should be seeing me around these parts again. 
> 
> Until we meet again lovely people!

**Author's Note:**

> comments are lovely reminders why i love to write for these two so much and i love reading them!


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